La Mulana Announcement and Trailer

You might remember that Nigoro and Nicalis recently announced their new partnership. Well, these two companies have now officially announced their new WiiWare title La Mulana and have released the first trailer showing the game in action.

You can check out the brand new trailer below, along with the official press release announcing the game.

Nigoro, a division of Asterizm Co., today announced an all-new remade LA-MULANA, co-developed and published by Nicalis, Inc., to appear on WiiWare in late 2009. The original Windows version was inspired by the action-adventure games of the 1980s a visual style indicative of that era. In contrast, the all-new remake of LA-MULANA features stunning new graphics and gameplay.

Sealed since long ago the ruins of LA-MULANA are yours to explore. Assume the role of famed archeologist, Dr. Lemeza Kosugi and uncover the remains of an ancient civilization, the origin of man and all life as we know it. Developed in conjunction with Nicalis, Inc. the re-imagined LA-MULANA features a robust all-new game engine built specifically for LA-MULANA with vibrant hand-drawn artwork, original audio and special effects not seen in the original—which used a limited 16-color palette.

Additionally, the new console version of LA-MULANA will expand the mysteries of the ruins with downloadable content support including new gameplay modes (such as Boss Rush), special stages and more. From Japan to China, Europe and North America, Nigoro has gained a wide audience. Fans all over world have experienced games designed by Nigoro, “We want to develop more games for consoles and bring back that ‘excitement of classic games.’ It’s the concept for our games in the future, so thank you and bon appétit for the support!,” said Shoji Nakamura of Nigoro.

No European release mentioned? Hmmh. Well, I guess I should really try getting into the PC version then. I just wonder what the reception for this game will be like amongst reviewers and game players; the game looks deceptively simple platformer but I hear it's anything but simple and easy. Another thing is that if the graphical update and the listed extras are enough for people to want to pay for the game instead of downloading the freeware version.

La Mulana is in my top5 of this generation, no its my favourite games of all times. I'm MSX fan though. I was worried of the new graphics, because of that MSX burden, but immediately I saw first screen shot I was relieved. This trailer is even better! It looks fantastic, and makes me want to visit it again. Parallax scrolling looks stunning and makes things look lively. This game, while it may look simple for untrained gamer eye, makes you want to see whats behind that wall and then it makes you wonder whats over that river. It makes you adventurer. Fortunately my PC went broken and I didn't complete it first time. I'm so happy and excited now, that its hard to breath!

Though developers!!! If you see this, please consider. The old pace feel a little too slow for new graphics. Is there any sain method to speed things up? I understand this is massive game, and fixing every screen and monster for gameplay changes might be too much to ask. But even slight speed up would help.

Yeah. Just wet my pants in excitement for this. This, Cave Story, and Night Game are THE WiiWare releases to beat this year. The update work Nicalis and Nigoro have done to La-Mulana looks nothing short of drop-dead gorgeous and I can't wait to see what sort of extra content they add to it over time. I also love the Guidance Gate remix played over the trailer. Awesome.

These are the kind of games that deserve all our support on WiiWare so Nintendo knows we want to see more and more of this. Color me uber-excited!